


To admire a Gryffindor

by DarkkBluee



Series: To Seduce A Gryffindor [3]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-27
Updated: 2019-03-27
Packaged: 2019-12-18 15:18:37
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,904
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18252500
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarkkBluee/pseuds/DarkkBluee
Summary: Cedric feels neglected and tries to deny his feelings. He is not very successful.





	To admire a Gryffindor

**Author's Note:**

> This is the result of the tomarry discord server and my mind going off with it.
> 
> Note: In this chapter, Tom, Cedric and Cho are in their third year, Harry, Ron, Neville and Hermione are in their second year and Ginny and Luna in their first.

Cedric hasn’t had much of a chance to meet Harry over the summer. Oh sure, he visited the Burrow and met him several times, but it was always as if Cedric was an after-thought. Harry was always distracted whenever they met and they were never able to meet alone, some Weasley or the other always hovering in the background. They exchanged plenty of letters, but it was always all small-talk. He felt like he could never get through to Harry, never closer and always a wall present between them.

 

Which is why he is excited today. It is the first of September, the day they’d all planned to meet on the Hogwarts Express and finally, Cedric can have some alone time with Harry. Except that Tom is still there.

 

Cedric and Tom have decided to share a compartment again, each unwilling to have the other ‘accidently’ encounter Harry and monopolize his time.

 

He grows increasingly worried when the train starts and Harry still hasn’t met them up in their compartment as was agreed upon.

 

“Should we go look for him?” Cedric asks and Tom is silent for a few moments, thinking it over.

 

“Let’s wait for a while yet. If he hasn’t come in 5 more minutes, then we can go look for him.” He decides and Cedric reluctantly agrees. He wants to meet up with Harry soon, and have him focus on Cedric for the first time in months. Except Tom is also there.

 

There is a knock on the door and Harry’s voice come through.

 

“Hello? Tom? Cedric?” He asks and Cedric cheerily replies.

 

“Here Harry! Come on in.”

 

The door opens and Harry enters. But it is not only Harry who enters, for there is a red haired first year clinging to his arm along with him.

 

“Hi! I finally found you guys!” Harry smiles. “I looked over half the train and-” Harry cuts off as the red-head elbows him.

 

“Offph.” Harry rubs his side and continues. “Right, sorry Ginny. Guys, this here is Ron’s sister, Ginny. Ginny, this is Cedric Diggory,” he gestures towards the Hufflepuff, “and Tom Riddle.” He gestures towards Tom. “Don’t go by their houses. They’re super nice and helpful.”

 

Ginny smiles and greets them both.

 

“Hello.” The red-head says and her hands clench tight to Harry’s arm as she looks over the two. “Harry has told me a lot about you.”

 

“Pity I can’t say the same.” Tom replies as he looks at Ginny as if she is a pest.

 

Cedric doesn’t reply. He simply smiles tightly, his eyes narrowed.

 

“I’m sure we’ll become closely acquainted in the future.” The Hufflepuff gives a safe reply. For he surely plans to know all about how, when, where and why Ginny became so close with Harry. He has not heard about this development before and Harry is the type to always want to share everything with his friends.

 

Ginny ignores both Cedric and Tom and drags Harry to sit down besides herself on the opposite seat, leaving both Cedric and Tom to sit next to each other, both leaving as much distance between themselves as possible.

 

They pass the time talking, with Ginny interrupting every time Harry starts to speak something about himself, getting closer and closer to the green-eyed boy slowly yet steadily, snuggling under his arm.

 

The glances she steals at the boy’s face and her near-constant grip on his arm is enough to confirm that they have a competitor for Harry’s affection. The way Harry doesn’t return her glances or her touch or even looks like he notices her affections assures them that the feelings are one-sided and he sees the girl as only a sister.

 

They have nothing to worry about. For now.

 

**********

 

Cedric again feels neglected, as he sees Harry spend time with Ginny and hover worriedly over Tom, yet only exchange short sentences with himself. The way Tom monopolizes Harry’s time for studies and Ginny takes Harry’s attention for in-house matters makes Cedric think that his crush is going to die down this year.

 

This is not helped by the fact that all the girls crowd around him and try to gain his attention, even as Harry pulls away and refuses to give him his attention. Oh Harry tries, Cedric knows this, but Tom and Ginny are devious and make sure Harry spends as little time with Cedric as possible.

 

“Is something the matter, Cedric?” Cho Chang, the Ravenclaw Seeker asks. She pulls closer to him and her eyelashes flutter in an effort to make herself prettier. It works too, for Cho is one of his more beautiful admirers, even as young as she is. It is a guarantee that the girl will grow up to be beautiful and that they would definitely make a perfect couple.

 

“Nothing.” Cedric says and smiles warmly. “You wanted something, Cho?” He asks, trying to move the conversation along.

 

Cho moves her hand slowly and softly lays it upon his shoulder.

 

“Cedric, would you show me around on the next Hogsmeade weekend? I’m a bit nervous, going to the village alone for the first time.” She says as she pushes herself closer.

 

Cedric thinks it over. Now that he isn’t spending as much time with Harry as before, he finds himself with plenty of free time. And if Harry is pulling away from him, then Cedric can sure spend his remaining time with Cho, with someone who values his attention.

 

“I would be honored to escort you to your first Hogsmeade visit.” Cedric replies, nevermind the fact that it would be his first Hogsmeade visit too.

 

The nearby girls make a sound of surprised excitement and Cho smiles winningly, triumphantly, and tosses her hair over one shoulder, even as she gives a soft giggle.

 

**********

 

The date goes surprisingly well. Cho is an avid listener and the talk never turns awkward, never pauses. For one, Cho’s entire attention is on him, no Tom hovering nearby to split her focus. For another, he doesn’t see Harry or Tom for the whole day and the idiom ‘out of sight, out of mind’ is proved.

 

Later on, the next day, Harry corners him and congratulates him on his first date. Cho is next to him and coos at the shy boy even as she clings to Cedric with a tight grip.

 

It takes a week for their relationship to become official and for them to start ‘dating’.

 

Cedric still sees the green-eyed boy occasionally, sees the youngest Weasley shadowing the boy and Tom tutoring him in the library. Sure he sees him only occasionally, but he thinks he sees Harry from the corner of his eyes more times than he can count. All false alarms, but still more times than he is comfortable with. He knows, that Harry still occupies a corner of his mind and that his crush is unlikely to let go of itself any time soon.

 

But Cho does an admirable job of distracting him and Cedric finds himself lingering less and less in the thoughts of the green eyed boy.

 

**********

 

It is the first game of the season, Slytherin vs Gryffindor, when Cedric sees Harry on his broom for the first time. Harry has taken over the position of the Gryffindor Seeker and it is a pleasant surprise. Cedric is still worried though, for while second years and above can be on a House Team, they still make the most vulnerable targets on the field and Slytherin is known for playing dirty.

 

He looks across the field, at the Slytherin stands and observes Tom’s face. Tom looks worried, his brows pinched in shocked surprise, his body tense and Cedric knows that this is a surprise for Tom too. This pacifies him, for some reason.

 

His worries are for naught though, as Harry is magnificent on a broom. He rides as if he is born for it, and Cedric cannot help but think of the broom between those slender thighs and wonder how much better he could ride off that broom, of how those thighs would feel if they grip him and those green eyes look at him with the same moist determination they hold for the snitch. He looks at those small fingers gripping the handle and wonders if Harry would be as skilled at handling him as he would a wooden stick.

 

It is the first time Cedric feels jealous of an inanimate object. Of two inanimate objects.

 

He puts the thought out of his mind after the match, as Gryffindor wins and Cho pulls him into a kiss beneath the stands in the festive mood.

 

**********

 

It has been a month since that match and Cedric has managed to make himself ignore dreams of green eyes, tight thighs and slender fingers. Snogging Cho helps immensely in that regard and he dismisses his dreams as a part of puberty and sexual frustration.

 

Even now, he is going to meet up with Cho in a nearby alcove and snog her again in an attempt to forget his crush.

 

A sudden crash distracts him and Cedric finds himself rushing towards the sound.

 

“Aww, did poor Loony Lovegood forget to tie her shoelaces? Did you not see where you were going because of those nargles?” A familiar voice teases.

 

Cedric slows down, his footsteps quieting as he recognizes the voice as Cho’s and a sinking feeling enters his gut. He looks around the corner, hidden in the shadows of the nearby statue.

 

A small blonde, first year Ravenclaw has fallen to the ground. Cho has an eclectic coloured bag in her hands and she is opening it, turning it upside down to empty it.

 

“Nargles don’t play pranks.” The blonde says. “They’re more prone to confusing people.” She continues even as she looks around in a daze.

 

“Of course nargles play pranks.” Cho says and throws the bag away. She holds an ink bottle over the books spilled in a pile on the floor. “If not them, then who’ll do this?” She opens the ink bottle dramatically and empties it over the books. “Poor Looney. If not for nargles, this wouldn’t have happened.” She snickers and walks away, kicking the defiled books and stepping over and breaking the quills and other objects spilled on the floor. “Later Looney.” She says and her friends follow after her, praising her for her innovative ‘re-education methods’.

 

Cedric stands there, shocked. That was not the girl who fluttered her eyes at him, who was steadfast in her defense of her friends and who had a defined sense of right and wrong. And yet, it is the same person.

 

He straightens and decides to help the little first year, who is slowly gathering her broken things and books in her bag. He stops when he hears another set of footsteps nearing from the same direction as Cho’s exit.

 

“Luna.” Cedric’s heart stutters, for this is another voice he is familiar with. “I found your shoes.” Harry says. And he does have a pair of wet and dirty shoes in his hands.

 

“Oh Luna.” He sighs. “What happened?” He draws his wand and casts a _Reparo_ to fix the blonde’s books and bag.

 

“It was the nargles.” Luna says. “You found my shoes!” She smiles. “Thank you, Harry.”

 

“It may be the nargles, Luna, but they won’t go away if you don’t take preventive measure against them. Have you told Professor Flitwick yet?” Harry asks as he dries and cleans the shoes with another spell.

 

“There’s no need. I have my earrings and my necklace to keep the nargles away, see?” She points to her radish earrings and a necklace made of butterbeer corks. “But it only keeps them away from me. I tried to make the others wear a necklace or earrings too, but they refused.” She explains. “I am safe from nargles, but others aren’t. I tried to help them, but the nargles affected them too much to accept my help.” She says sadly.

 

“So you won’t tell me who did this.” Harry says flatly. “It doesn’t matter. I’ll figure it out eventually.” He draws up Luna by her shoulders. “Now come on. I’ll take you to the hospital wing. Let’s get that ankle looked at.” And Cedric notices the girl’s swollen ankle and her limp for the first time.

 

He stands there in the shadows for a long time afterward, missing his planned meeting with Cho but not regretting it one whit.

 

**********

 

Cho corners him the next day after breakfast and complains about standing her up. Cedric notices her voice sounds like a banshee and realizes for the first time how much she whines.

 

“Cho.” He says when she stops to take a breath. “We’re done.”

 

“What?” Cho screeches and there is a sudden silence around them. “What do you mean Cedric, that ‘we’re done’? We’ve been dating for 2 months and I thought it was all going well. What happened?” She asks, her voice suddenly taking on a concerned tone.

 

“I mean, we’re done. Over. I’m breaking up with you.” He states, making sure to speak clearly and concisely so there is no doubt about his words.

 

“But-” She says and frowns. “But why?! Did I do something wrong? Does this have anything to do with why you missed our meet-up yesterday?”

 

“It is because you’re ugly.” He says and Cho gasps as if he has slapped her. “Your hair is too thin, it is too straight, your voice is too screechy and you’re too whiny, your figure is too curvy and you’re too dramatic, your eyes are as clouded as your brain is empty. You’re more ugly on the inside than on the outside. Take your pick.”

 

Cho lets out a loud wail and slaps him.

 

“How dare you!” She sobs. “It is you who ditched me yesterday and now I know what you really think about me. You can’t break up with me. I’ll break up with you. I deserve better than you, Cedric Diggory!”

 

“I saw it, Cho. I saw what you did your to junior. Does it make you feel better to act like a virtuous saint in front of me and bully an 11 year old girl when no one is looking?” Cedric says. He won’t allow this shallow girl to act as the victim in all this. “I thought you were better than this. You certainly acted better whenever we were together. I am sorry it is on such short notice and in such a public area, but I cannot bear to look at a two-faced bully like you again.”

 

Loud whispers arise around them and Cho takes a step back, horror dawning on her face.

 

“No.” She whispers. And she turns around and runs.

 

The whole day, Cedric gets sympathetic pats on his back. Tom gives him disdainful looks and Cedric corners him before day’s end.

 

“You knew.” He says and Tom sneers.

 

“About Cho, yes. Only a blind, deaf and dumb person could ignore the obvious signs.” The Slytherin  admits.

 

“You were waiting for Harry to find out about Cho and Luna. And for him to permanently distance himself from him.” He states. “You were trying to distance Harry and me as the preparation to cut me off.”

 

“I am a Slytherin. Of course I wouldn’t miss such a golden opportunity to get rid of my biggest rival.” Tom rolls his eyes.

 

“I won’t back out anymore.” Cedric warns.

 

Tom simply scowls and walks away without a word.

 

**********

 

Harry meets him the next day.

 

“Cedric.” He says and Cedric smiles at the boy warmly. The boy who he now knows means more than a crush to him.

 

“Harry.” He breathes out. “Long time no see.”

 

“Yes.” Harry gives a hesitant smile. “I’m sorry. About Cho. It must still hurt for you, for your girlfriend to do such a thing. But you did the right thing, breaking up with her. I mean…” He fumbles his words. “I mean, I am sorry about your relationship, and I hope you feel better soon but I believe you’re better off without her.” He rambles.

 

Cedric simply smiles sadly, not feeling sad at all but milking this opportunity for all it’s worth.

 

“Thank you, Harry. We haven’t talked much in the recent months, but your words mean a lot to me.” He says, twisting the knife further and trying to steer the conversation in a favorable direction.

 

It works, for Harry winces and a guilty look passes his face.

 

“Yes. I’m sorry about it. I… I didn’t mean to!” He pleads. “It just happened and then you got together with Cho and Tom said you needed to spend time together with your girlfriend and -” Cedric cuts him off by placing a finger on those soft lips.

 

“It’s alright, Harry.” He smiles, the words that couldn’t have been planned better spilling from his lips. “I’m alright. Just… just don’t do it again. I don’t think I can take it anymore. First Cho and now… I need you, Harry. Please don’t leave me alone again.”

 

The words do their job as Harry’s eyes brighten with unshed tears and determination. The green-eyed boy takes a step forwards and clings to Cedric in a hug.

 

“I’m sorry.” He says. “I’m sorry. I won’t do it again.”

 

And if Cedric grips the boy just a little tighter, lingers in the hug longer than is appropriate, then no one is there to see it.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Kudos and Comments are always appreciated~


End file.
